This week the Parsha begins with the words Vayechee Yaakov and Yaakov lived.

And he lived…On this verse, the rabbis expounded “Yaakov loh mays…Yaakov didn’t die.” When folks live life the way it should be, rising to each challenge, teaching the next generation, doing good deeds, they never really “die” because they are never forgotten. Their presence stays beyond their time on this world.

You see some people are walking dead men. Their presence in this world doesn’t make a difference. They are another speck of foam on the ocean of life. In the bar, back to work, to their studio apartment, talking to their resident puppy, pumping iron at the gym flirting with their date, then back to the bar… there is no difference to the world whether they exist or not. They just are another moving part of the stage-set for the real actors of life.

The real actors are those who make life count, who put thought into their days, hours and even minutes of life. Those who connect to eternal. Those who beam up spirituality. Those who teach and preach.

Think of those we know after thousands of years. There are great people in every generation whose voice, dreams and vision last beyond their own slice of time.

Yaakov Loh Mays – -great people never die, for their messages span all ages and lasts way beyond the days of their lives.